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The Shenandoah Valley, with its
lush farmland, rolling hills, and ample rivers, was known as the breadbasket of
the Confederacy during the Civil War. These days it’s still full of cornfields,
trout-laden streams, and dairy farms… but if one actually wants to sit and
ORDER food (say, as opposed to PICKING it), great options can be scarce.I found myself in the area for a week,
and after much research and a few wrong turns, can offer the following solace
to foodies finding themselves off the beaten path.

Melon salad at Element

Element.In the town
of Front Royal, Virginia, husband and wife chef team David and Stacy Gedney are
injecting elegant cooking in an area teeming with chain restaurants.Their slowly-expanding universe
includes a wine shop, a reservations-only Thursday and Saturday dining
experience called Apartment 2g (which sadly was closed the week I was in town),
and Element, a casual bistro with a small, well-executed menu. Appetizers
include a gazpacho, a rather large cheese plate, and an assortment of salads.
The ripe cantaloupe salad with melon vinaigrette is fresh and tastes like
summer in every bite. The house-made
foccacia provided to our table didn’t last beyond the first course.

Strawberry pavlova with chantilly creme

Element offers only a handful of
entrees – 5 or 6 – including a vegetarian option of grilled vegetables over
polenta.Salmon was perfectly
cooked, deep pink in the middle – served with pasta and seasonal vegetables.
And if French chefs are measured by how well they execute the basics, the roast
chicken here proves this is a VERY well-trained kitchen.But don’t overdo it and make the
mistake of skipping one of Stacy’s desserts.Even the pavlova – usually not my favorite thing on the
menu, as meringue can easily skew chalky – was heavenly.

Our waiter was also our
bartender, and mixed a fabulous Manhattan, a great pear martini, and the entire
wine list is offered at just above market price (one of the perks of owning
your own wine store, I suppose). This is a tiny, delicious gem of a restaurant, and a must-eat
if you’re in the area.

Hotel Strasburg. To
really impress the kids with your time-travel capabilities, take them to the
Hotel Strasburg, in business since 1915 and decidedly, stubbornly unchanged.
The bar to the right of the entrance is all wood and mirrors, low rickety
tables, bring-me-a-shot-of-whiskey-bartender old-style saloon.You wouldn’t be surprised to see
someone walk in with a hip holster. But the dining room, in the back of the
first floor, is brocaded, full of doilies and brass frames, overstuffed chairs
and high ceilings.The Brits would
call it “very twee”.Your
great-great grandmother would have wanted to celebrate her birthday dinner
here.

Which would all be very
theme-park amusing if the food weren’t so darn good!I had low expectations here but was pleasantly surprised
across the board (with the exception of the rather dry bread served at the
start of the meal).The house
salad, a by-now common combination of greens, apples, gorgonzola and almonds,
was elevated by a light and tangy champagne vinaigrette and high-quality
ingredients.

The "Petite" Crab Cake

The menu is large and has
something for everyone: flat iron steak marinated in Jack Daniels, filets of
cod broiled in crabmeat and butter, veal schnitzel, various pastas.The crabcake here is more crab than
cake – excellent shellfish meat with relatively little breadcrumb binding, so
delicate it needs to be broiled instead of pan-fried.What’s more, almost every entrée can be ordered in a petite
size for nearly half the cost.

People come to small towns like
Strasburg to stumble upon a place like this: it’s a transporting experience and
definitely the best food around town.

Yamafuji.I was born
in Japan, lived there for a bit to learn Japanese (which I’ve promptly
forgotten), and have returned there for work several times… so I take my
Japanese food VERY seriously.To
me it’s the ultimate comfort food: miso soup is as soul-warming as chicken or
matzo ball.So to stumble upon a
decent – even GOOD – Japanese restaurant in Front Royal was a real treat.

Spicy edamame

Yamafuji is more than a sushi
restaurant… they have tempura, bento boxes, udon, tonkatsu (breaded and fried
pork), and rice bowls.We
ordered some sushi and miso soup: rich and earthy and steaming.The waiter brought us a free bowl of
spicy edamame as the sushi chef got to work.

Rolls were fine: many of the
standards were rolled with the seaweed on the outside, while specialty rolls
were generally inside out.The
real standouts were the nigiri sushi – bluefin tuna was a special that day,
buttery and delicious; red snapper was equally fresh; portions were
generous.The waiter brought us
samples of the “engagement roll”, scallop tempura and asparagus inside, topped
with tuna and eel sauce.Of the
specialty rolls we tried, it was by far the best.

The Engagement Roll

By big-city standards, Yamafuji
would be slightly above average… here, it’s an oasis from the country cooking and
heavy meat n’ three dining.And
for people like me, comforted by miso and soy and hearty slices of Japanese
omelet, it’s a little bit o’ home on the road.

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eatTALK.net introduces you to visually interesting, flavor-enticing & aroma-seducing 'food for blog' at eateries across the country! From formal dining to food stands, a spectrum of eats will be covered in this growing list of restaurants and kitchen-inspired recipes! Whether you want to check out the most popularly read items, find a restaurant by cuisine or locale, or search the food archives, eatTALK.net has it for you!